How To Lose 39 Pounds of Fat In 49 Days

By Tom Venuto & Tom Laverick

In the most recent 49-day Burn the Fat challenge, Tom Laverick dropped 27 pounds of scale weight, but more importantly, after factoring in the change in the body fat percentage and lean body mass (muscle) gained, he reported a total loss of 39 pounds of body fat.

It's all about feeding the muscle while melting the fat, not about starving or worshiping the scale!

And the pictures speak for themselves - The drop in Tom's waistline was so dramatic, he's going to need a new wardrobe!

How Did He Do It?

Many people are inspired by success stories like these, but they doubt whether they can transform their own body in only 7 weeks. Some even believe 49 days is not enough time for a major transformation. They say, "It takes months" or when you have 50-100 pounds to lose, "It'll take a year to see a major difference."

Indeed, a 49-day challenge is just a short term goal and fitness is an ongoing journey for us all. There is no finish line. Tom says he is by no means finished yet. He wants abs for his next goal! He's still going!

But he also says he's now a total believer about how much can be accomplished in a little amount of time if you have the right program and the right conditions for accountability and motivation. He told us:

"I've learned that a lot can be accomplished in a very short period as far as our bodies go. The hardest part for my transformation was my mind and my thinking process - letting go of old stuff I used to believe. I have discovered that if you can move your mind in a new direction your body will follow!"

Read on to hear Tom L's thoughts on all the major factors he believes were critical to his dramatic - and rapid - fat loss.

Thoughts On Transformation...
A Burn the Fat Challenge Champion Speaks On Food and Nutrition...

Plan your meals in advance, track everything that you consume, and keep a log so you can review it to see where things went right and things went wrong. Diligently maintain a 30% deficit from Total Daily Energy Expenditure and use exercise to increase that deficit as much as possible to really speed up the fat loss. Stay well hydrated too.

On diets versus lifestyle...

I have fought the battle of the bulge since my childhood, but this time, I made permanent lifestyle changes. The word "diet" implies major restrictions and I always went that route in the past, limiting my caloric intake to well below starvation levels. I now know that diet doesn't mean eliminating foods from my life, diet means limiting my calories to a certain deficit below my maintenance level. I choose the foods I buy much more wisely but I now also watch how much I eat more carefully and I've even changed the way I cook.

On training...

What worked best for me: In the beginning, I was on a 3 day split hitting every muscle group 2 times a week. 12 to 15 reps across 3 sets. Cardio was done 7 days a week with Sunday off from resistance training. I always placed cardio after resistance training to have maximum energy for the lifting session. Lifting was the top training priority. I consider cardio calories burned as a bonus on top of the calories burned from lifting.

On mindset...

Stay focused on your goals. Look at the 49 day challenge as a short-term goal. Use that time deadline and urgency factor to push yourself harder so you can see exactly what you're capable of doing. Work harder than you've ever worked before, prepare yourself mentally and use short term goals - even goals for just one week at a time. Strive for them, and when you hit them, give yourself a reward - anything, even something like a movie.

On overcoming adversity...

During the challenge, I had many obstacles to overcome, but I did it and learned a lot about myself in the process. In the past, the biggest obstacle was myself and getting over the hurdle that "it hurts, it's uncomfortable, I can't go on, etc." and so I would quit. Not this time.

In the past, depressing and emotional events would have been enough to send me into an eating frenzy. Not this time. This time, I was tested, and I learned - and I proved to myself once and for all - that I do have the will power and the mental strength to overcome those basic human desires and bad habits. I will no longer become a victim to myself!

On motivations...

My biggest motivator was the woman I love and her children. Just the fact that I know they need me makes me want to work harder to become healthier. When I hug her I want her close to me, near me and to feel her warmth, I do not want to feel like she is a body in orbit around me and I do not want her feeling that way! I want to spend a long life with her and her children and our grandchildren when they come.

On goals...

Use goal cards! I CANNOT BELIEVE how much this one little piece of advice from Tom Venuto has meant to me getting to where I am today. Visualizations have also played an important role in my transformation. Every day I would imagine myself a week from now and visualize what I wanted me to look like the next week, always impoving.

On winning a transformation contest...

I would love to win a trip to Maui, but neither a prize nor anything the judges decided can truly declare me a winner or a loser. I AM a winner just because I am improving myself, my health and getting my life on track!

On making time and putting it all together...

In the past, effective time management eluded me, mostly I never worried about the value of time. My career is in IT and nothing happens on a schedule there except for patches and maintenance. Today I see time as very precious to me, and as a result, during the challenge, even with 2 jobs and school, I managed to get all my workouts in and maintain healthy eating habits. How much VALUE do you REALLY put on your time?

On support and the Burn the Fat Inner Circle...

I don't have a big family to fall back on for support, but some of my coworkers have been there to cheer me on. The biggest support I get is from my girlfriend and she just may not even understand the importance of her role in my life. She is my rock and my pillar here on earth! There are many things I couldn't have done in my life without her in my heart!

On top of that, the support I received from other Burn the Fat Inner Circle members was second to none, and I thank all of you for that!

On the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle program...

I owe just about every part of my success in the 49 day challenge to the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) book. I could have tried the challenge without it, but it would have been the same old story (Eat little, work out lost, lose a ton of weight and gain it all back). Wthout the insights I learned from the BFFM book I would have been stuck in same old pattern and not understood how and why what I did in the past resulted in failure.